A Giada Favorite

My father in law arrived this afternoon. Since we're going to trudge to the auto show tomorrow, we decided to stay in this evening. So, I've decided to make dinner. I'm making the same recipe for the fish & rice from Melissa D'Arabian that I made about a week ago. For an appetizer, however, I'm putting out some cheese & crackers & olives (per usual... I think I'd weigh 10 pounds less without that stuff), as well as Giada De Laurentiis' Pea Pesto Crostini.

I do lessen the amount of olive oil from 1/3 c to about 1/6 cup. I'm also going to serve it on crostini made from some pretzel loaves that I found at Whole Foods. Bread that tastes like a pretzel... talk about a little piece of heaven.

Anyway, here's the recipe..

Pea Pesto Crostini
recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

10 oz frozen peas, defrosted (I used the whole 16 oz... due to the face I apparently didn't READ the directions until right now!)
1 garlic clove
1/2 c grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp kosher salt, plus extra for seasoning
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper, plus extra for seasoning
1/3 c olive oil (I used 1/6 c here)

Pulse together the peas, garlic, parmesan, salt, and pepper in a food processor.


With the machine running, add the olive oil until combined.

Serve on a crostini topped with a half of a grape tomato. (I don't have any on hand right now so I've omitted this... it's still delicious!)


Note: To make the crostini, brush slices of bread (baguette, etc) with olive oil and grill on a grill pan for 1 to 2 minutes until toasted. If you haven't tried pretzel bread for this, please do! You'll be thrilled at the result.

~M